System and Method for Customized Experiences in a Shared Online Environment

ABSTRACT

There is provided a system and method for providing customized experiences to a plurality of client stations in a shared environment. There is provided an accounts database having data relating to a plurality of clients, an online server having a server processor and hosting the shared environment for access by the plurality of client stations, and an online client application for execution by a client processor of a client station. The server processor is configured to retrieve client data from the accounts database relating to a client, determine client preferences of the client based on the client data, create a customized environment from the shared environment according to the client preferences, and send the customized environment to the online client application of a client station associated with the client for rendering the customized environment on a client display. User interactions may be filtered to maintain a shared environment perception.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to networking. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to methods of presentingonline information.

2. Background Art

Networked applications present many advantages over traditional methodsof presentation. For example, live lectures must generally be tailoredto an anticipated lowest common denominator audience, often resulting inalienating large segments of the audience. Some may find the pace of thelecture languid, while others may find themselves hopelessly lost anddiscouraged. Similarly, a customer shopping in a large discount storemight feel lost, overwhelmed, or apathetic, being presented with a hugeinventory aimed for a broad audience rather than tailored to theparticular interests of the customer. Traditional methods ofpresentation have typically treated audiences in the aggregate,marginalizing the unique needs of individuals.

On the other hand, networked applications can provide customized resultstailored to particular interests or preferences of users, allowinghighly relevant and compelling content delivery that engages users asindividuals. By leveraging volunteered user information and trackinguser behavior over a period of time, user preferences may be ascertainedwith increasing accuracy, encouraging user retention and repeat visits.Aggregate data concerning groups of users with common traits can alsoprovide big picture trends, insights, and other data helpful forpredicting the needs of users.

While networked applications can provide a very individualisticpresentation as described above, networked applications can also bringdiverse people together, providing group benefits by encouraging a senseof shared camaraderie and community. The explosion of socially focusedapplications on the Internet such as networking websites, friend groups,instant messaging chat, bulletin boards, online games, and many othersocial applications show that networked applications can foster alltypes of social online communities. Often, these shared socialenvironments concern some common interest or hobby, allowing theformation of enthusiastic and focused groups for a wide range of topics.

One angle not commonly approached due to execution difficulties is thecombination of customized individual personalization within a sharedsocial environment. In shared social environments, group dynamics oftenexert predominant control, with less opportunity for individuals to havecustomized experiences tailored to their specific interests, as thosespecific interests may be irrelevant or contravene the group ethos. Ifan individual strays too far from common bonding elements of the sharedsocial environment, the individual may end up voluntarily or forciblyparting ways with the group, sacrificing many social benefits. Thus, ithas been difficult to reconcile customized individual personalizationwithin a shared social environment due to the conflicting needs ofgroups and individuals.

Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficienciesin the art by providing a way to combine customized experiences within ashared online environment, allowing users to enjoy the benefits of groupparticipation without sacrificing compelling individualized content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There are provided systems and methods for providing customizedexperiences in a shared online environment, substantially as shown inand/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as setforth more completely in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the present invention will become morereadily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewingthe following detailed description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram of a network environment supportingcustomized experiences in a shared online environment, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 presents a flowchart showing preference-based substitution ofonline assets to provide customized experiences in a shared onlineenvironment, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 presents a block diagram of a network environment supportingfiltering of client interactions to maintain a perception of a sharedenvironment among client stations, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart describing the steps, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, by which a server processor of anonline server can provide customized experiences for client stations ina shared online environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present application is directed to a system and method for providingcustomized experiences in a shared online environment. The followingdescription contains specific information pertaining to theimplementation of the present invention. One skilled in the art willrecognize that the present invention may be implemented in a mannerdifferent from that specifically discussed in the present application.Moreover, some of the specific details of the invention are notdiscussed in order not to obscure the invention. The specific detailsnot described in the present application are within the knowledge of aperson of ordinary skill in the art. The drawings in the presentapplication and their accompanying detailed description are directed tomerely exemplary embodiments of the invention. To maintain brevity,other embodiments of the invention, which use the principles of thepresent invention, are not specifically described in the presentapplication and are not specifically illustrated by the presentdrawings.

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram of a network environment supportingcustomized experiences in a shared online environment, according to oneembodiment of the present invention. Network environment 100 includesonline server 110, accounts database 120, network 130, client station150 a, client station 150 b, client station 150 c, display 160 a,display 160 b, and display 160 c. Online server 110 includes serverprocessor 111 and server memory 115. Server memory 115 includes onlineservice application 116 and shared environment 117. Accounts database120 includes client data 121. Client station 150 a includes clientprocessor 151 a, online client application 156 a, and customizedenvironment 157 a. Client station 150 b includes client processor 151 b,online client application 156 b, and customized environment 157 b.Client station 150 c includes client processor 151 c, online clientapplication 156 c, and customized environment 157 c.

Network environment 110 shows a high level diagram of online application116 providing shared environment 117, such as a virtual world ormultiplayer online game, for a plurality of client stations, shown asclient station 150 a to 150 c. Online server 110, although shown as asingle server, could also comprise multiple servers for loaddistribution and modularization of server tasks. Server processor 111accesses server memory 115 to execute online service application 116,which handles network communications between online server 110 andclient station 150 a to 150 c via network 130. Network 130 mightcomprise a publicly accessible network such as the Internet. Accountsdatabase 120 includes client data 121, which may include registrationand security information for authentication, personal information,access history logs, and online avatar or persona state information suchas virtual items, character appearance, and attribute statistics. It maybe assumed that each user for client station 150 a to 150 c have alreadyregistered an account with accounts database 120, possibly by a webbased registration interface or directly through an online clientapplication.

Client station 150 a to 150 c might each comprise a computing platformsuch as a personal computer, a video game console, a portable gamingsystem, a mobile phone, or a mobile Internet device (MID). Clientstation 150 a contains client processor 151 a for executing onlineclient application 156 a, which interfaces with online serviceapplication 116. It might be assumed that as part of the user accountregistration process, each user has already downloaded and installedonline client application 156 a to 156 c. Alternatively, the onlineclient application might be dynamically downloaded, as for example, aFlash or Java application. In this alternative approach, each clientstation may access a web server providing a dynamically downloadableonline client application.

By interfacing with online service application 116, client processor 151a can receive customized environment 157 a, which is then sent todisplay 160 a to be rendered as render 167 a. Display 160 a can comprisean external or integrated display such as an LCD screen, and render 167a might comprise a two or three dimensional image render of customizedenvironment 157 a. The properties of client station 150 a as describedabove could also be applicable to client station 150 b, client station150 c, and any other client station connected to online server 110.

Before online server 110 allows a client station to connect, it mayfirst authenticate the client station by accessing accounts database 120to check user provided credentials against client data 121. For example,a user of client station 150 a might be asked for a username andpassword, which are stored in encrypted form in client data 121. Oncethe user provides login credentials, server processor 111 may validatethose login credentials against client data 121 to authenticate theclient station. In this manner, a user can access online serviceapplication 116 from any arbitrary client station.

In a traditional shared online environment, client station 150 a to 150c may request shared environment 117 for direct rendering on display 160a to 160 c, respectively. Thus, assuming that each avatar representationfor client station 150 a to 150 c is positioned within close proximityin shared environment 117, then each client station may have similarvirtual viewpoints for shared environment 117. Thus, online clientapplication 156 a to 156 c may output render 167 a to 167 c quitesimilarly. For example, if there happens to be a palm tree shared withinthe virtual viewpoints of each client station, then that same palm treemay be rendered in render 167 a to 167 c. Of course, due to performancedifferences between client processor 151 a to 151 c and display 160 a to160 c, renders 167 a to 167 c may differ in graphical detail andquality, but they still all depict the same palm tree. No client stationattempts to render a different object, such as a cactus, for example.

On the other band, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, each clientstation is capable of rendering its own particular customized viewpoint.Client station 150 a renders customized environment 157 a as render 167a, client station 150 b renders customized environment 157 b as render167 b, and client station 150 c renders customized environment 157 c asrender 167 c. The particular modifications made from shared environment117 to result in a particular customized environment depend on datastored in client data 121, detailed in FIG. 2 below.

FIG. 2 presents a flowchart showing preference-based substitution ofonline assets to provide customized experiences in a shared onlineenvironment, according to one embodiment of the present invention.Flowchart 200 includes client data 221, shared environment 217, clientapplication 216, client A preferences 223 a, client B preferences 223 b,client C preferences 223 c, customized environment 257 a, customizedenvironment 257 b, and customized environment 257 c. Client data 211includes client A data 222 a, client B data 222 b, and client C data 222c.

Client data 221 corresponds to client data 121 from FIG. 1. Sharedenvironment 217 corresponds to shared environment 117. Online serviceapplication 216 corresponds to online service application 116.Customized environment 257 a to 257 c corresponds to customizedenvironment 157 a to 157 c, respectively. Several components of FIG. 1have been simplified or eliminated in flowchart 200 for purposes ofclarity. Additionally, although each environment in FIG. 2 is shown witha corresponding graphical depiction, the actual data for eachenvironment may simply contain binary data to be passed to a renderersuch as online client application 156 a, which is interpreted andrendered on display 160 a to generate an actual image as render 167 a.Thus, the environments shown in FIG. 2 do not necessarily imply thatenvironments are transferred as pre-rendered graphical images.

A display rendering shared environment 217 may look similar to thedepiction shown in shared environment 217, having several identifiableobjects. Anthropomorphic virtual avatars for each client station areshown, including client A, client B, and client C. All the virtualavatars appear to be situated in a shared room, with a painting on theleft wall, a clock on the right wall, and a pet cat on the ground.

As previously discussed, in a traditional shared online environment,each client station might render a scene from an attached display thatlooks similar to shared environment 217. Thus, every client stationrenders the same pet cat, the same painting, the same clock, and thesame virtual avatars for clients A, B, and C.

On the other hand, with the support of client data 221 and onlineservice application 216 executing on an omitted online server,preferences of each client can be determined, and thus online serviceapplication 216 can provide each client station with a customizedenvironment tailored to the preferences of a particular user accountassociated with a client station.

For example, a survey of favorite pets among registered users might beconducted, with survey results being deposited in appropriate accountswithin client data 221. If a user chooses to ignore the survey, otherways of gathering user information indicating preferences may also beused, such as analyzing user account information from an affiliatedservice, examining e-commerce activity, or tracking past user behavior.

As shown by customized environment 257 a, client A might prefer cats aspets, while customized environment 257 b might indicate that client Blikes dogs as pets, and customized environment 257 c may indicate thatclient C prefers keeping fish in an aquarium. In other words, client Apreferences 223 a may comprise “likes pet cats,” whereas client Bpreferences 223 b may comprise “likes pet dogs,” and client Cpreferences 223 c may comprise “likes keeping fish in aquariums.” ClientA preferences 223 a to 223 c might be derivable from client A data 222 ato 222 c, respectively.

For example, client A may have provided a straightforward answer to theabove survey, indicating a preference for cats. In this case, it istrivial to determine client A preferences 223 a, as it is explicitlystated within client A data 222 a. On the other hand, client B may haveignored the survey, or the survey may have ended up caught in a junkmail filter, never to be read.

Thus, to determine client B preferences 223 b, other data points storedin client B data 222 b might be utilized by online service application216. For example, perhaps online service application 216 allows eachclient to have their own room to customize and decorate, as well asvisiting rooms of other clients to interact with the furniture and itemsstored in their rooms. Additionally, perhaps each user is given theoption of having a particular pet, and users can interact with the petby playing with it or petting it. These actions might be stored in anactivity log within an associated user account. Thus, for example,client B data 222 b might indicate that client B tends to interact withdog pets versus cat pets or other types of pets, from which a preferencefor dog pets might be deduced as client B preferences 223 b.

Client C might have ignored the survey as well, so client C preferences223 c needs to be deduced as well. For example, if client C purchasedfish food from an affiliated pet goods e-commerce website, it might bededuced that client C keeps pet fish at home and thereby probablyprefers fish over other pets. Another example might extrapolatedeductions from data concerning a particular group or demographic clientC may be belong to. This data might exist from existing data sets inclient data 221, or be retrieved from external sources.

For example, through data mining, it might be observed that for whateverreason, males aged 40 through 50 who live on the east coast tend toprefer keeping fish to other pets. Thus, these relationship factorsmight be weighted against any personal information available aboutclient C in client C data 222 c to determine client C's affinity towardskeeping fish. Assuming some personal details were voluntarily providedas part of the registration process, client C may have indicated genderas male, age as 45, and residence in Rhode Island, all factorsindicating membership within the “40-50s male east coaster fishpreference” relationship. Whether that relationship is actually reliablemay be another question, but online service application 216 may alsoassign a probability weighting for particular relationships indicatingconfidence in relationship accuracy. Perhaps, for some reason, thisrelationship has been proven by many independent data points, and isthus deemed highly reliable. If this is the case, online serviceapplication 216 might conclude fairly conclusively that client Cpreferences 223 c should indicate a bias for keeping fish in aquariums.

If, on the other hand, absolutely no data pointing to a preferenceeither way can be derived, a default might be assumed, or thecustomization step may be bypassed. For example, if client A data 222 ais a blank slate with only minimal information required to register anaccount, there may not be enough data to make any preferencedeterminations. In that case, a default of “prefer cats as pets” mightbe assumed, or shared environment 217 might be provided directly forrendering, skipping customization.

Once each client's preferences are derived, they may be used by onlineservice application 216 to modify shared environment 217 for each clientstation. Thus, the pet of shared environment 217 is changed to match anestimated user preference at each client station. The level ofcustomization provided might be user adjustable, or specified by serveradministrators. In an environment with high levels of customization,each customized environment may look completely different from acorresponding shared environment. On the other hand, in an environmentusing low levels or subtle usage of customization, only a few elementsmight be modified among customized environments.

In FIG. 2, it can be observed that only the type of pet is changedbetween customized environments, whereas the virtual avatars, thepainting, and the clock remain static. Alternative embodiments maycustomize shared environment 217 drastically by changing severalelements, just a few, or something in-between. For example, eachpainting might be matched with client art sensibilities; the clock maybe changed to a digital clock or analog clock depending on the client'sage generation; virtual avatars might dress or appear differentlydepending on client fashion sense. Thus, although each client isparticipating in a shared space represented by shared environment 217,each client also has their own preference-based personalized custom viewof shared environment 217, represented by customized environment 257 ato 257 c.

FIG. 3 presents a block diagram of a network environment supportingfiltering of client interactions to maintain a perception of a sharedenvironment among client stations, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. Network environment 300 includes online server 310,network 330, client station 350 a, client station 350 b, and clientstation 350 c. Online server 310 includes shared environment 317,interaction data filter 318, and online service application 316. Clientstation 350 a includes customized environment 357 a, which includesinteraction 358 a. Client station 350 b includes client processor 351 b,online client application 356 b, customized environment 357 b, andinteraction data 359 b. Customized environment 357 b includesinteraction 358 b.

One problem with providing drastic or even subtly differing environmentsfor different clients is the issue of nevertheless maintaining aperception of a shared environment. In a traditional shared onlineenvironment, this is generally not an issue as each client shareslargely the same exact view of the shared environment. On the otherhand, by starting with a shared environment but customizing views forindividual client stations, there is the risk of having client stationsinteracting in a manner that is incoherent or jarring to other clientstations with differing customized environments.

While this problem may be partially avoided by restricting interactionto pre-selected and approved phrases and actions, this severely limitsthe freedom of users. For some users, the ability to speak and actfreely may comprise the sine qua non of the online experience,particularly in a shared social context. Thus, restricting users toselect only canned phrases or actions may not provide enough freedom toengage in meaningful social relations.

One alternative method for maintaining the perception of a sharedenvironment may include applying a filter for user actions andappropriately changing the user actions depending on whether the useractions are specific to a customized environment. In other words, useractions that are consistent with the view of the shared environmentamong all connected client stations can be passed as usual, but otheruser actions specific to a particular customized environment may need tobe examined and filtered accordingly.

For example, interaction 358 b comprises a user, client B of clientstation 350 b, engaging in a chat function of online client application356 b to broadcast a public message to all other users within sharedenvironment 317, including client A of client station 350 a and client Cof client station 350 c. As shown in FIG. 3, client B or user Bbroadcasts the public message, “Isn't that a cute dog! What kind offlower is in that painting?” If this message was broadcasted unmodifiedto client station 350 a and client station 350 c, the first halfregarding the dog would make no sense since as far as client A isconcerned, there is only a cat in customized environment 357 a, and asfar as client C is concerned, there is only a fish in customizedenvironment 357 c.

However, since all client stations observe a shared view of the flowerpainting, the second half of the broadcasted message concerning theflower still makes sense. Similarly, if client B made a statement aboutthe wall clock to the right, there would be little risk of broadcastingan incoherent or jarring message, as all client stations see the samewall clock. Elements from shared environment 317 that are not customizedfor client stations can be handled as usual in the traditional sharedenvironment model. This is not to imply that filtering is not used atall, as obscenity filters or other forms of general moderation may stillapply for all clients. However, as far as filtering for maintaining animpression of a shared environment, elements that remain static fromshared environment 317 might be safely ignored.

Thus, the statement regarding the pet may need to be modified in somemanner before being broadcasted to client station 350 a and clientstation 350 c. One possible solution is to implement a translationfilter for interaction data filter 318, where actions specific to oneclient station are translated to appropriate actions for other clientstations. Thus, when online server 310 retrieves interaction data 359 bfrom client station 350 b, online service application 316 can compareinteraction data 359 b against customized environment 357 a andcustomized environment 357 c to generate appropriate translatedinteraction data for client station 350 a and client station 350 c.Thus, online service application 316 can generate interaction 358 a forclient station 350 a, where “dog” is replaced with “cat,” andinteraction 358 c for client station 350 c, where “dog” is replaced with“fish,” thus conforming to client expectations of a consistent sharedenvironment.

Besides text or speech filtering, action filtering could also beimplemented by interaction data filter 318. For example, instead ofcommenting about the dog, perhaps user B decides to pet the dog. Thisinteraction could be translated into petting the cat for client station350 a, or making fish faces for the fish in client station 350 c.Another example might involve feeding the pet. Whereas user B might seehis virtual avatar giving the dog a bone, that same action might berepresented as user B giving the cat a bowl of milk in customizedenvironment 357 a, or as user B dropping fish food in the aquarium ofcustomized environment 357 c.

In addition to translating actions to suit particular customizedenvironments for different client stations, interaction data filter 318could also make such actions generally applicable for shared environment317. In other words, rather than making actions specific for eachenvironment, actions are made general to suit any environment. Forexample, interaction 358 b could be modified so that user B simply says,“Isn't that a cute pet!” Since the word “pet” is generally applicablefor shared environment 317 even after customization for different clientsystems, there is no incompatibility with sending this generalizedmessage for all client stations.

Ignoring or deleting interactions completely is another option, althoughsuch an extreme measure might be reserved only as a fallback forunexpected interactions. For example, the entire first sentence ofinteraction 358 b relating to the dog could be stricken, leaving onlythe statement regarding the painting intact. Thus, as far as clientstation 350 a and client station 350 c are concerned, user B made nocomment about the pet at all. Although this method might still elicitsome awkwardness if user B is expecting a response regarding the dog, itmay still outweigh the awkwardness of having user A and user C receive amessage incompatible with their respectively customized environments.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart describing the steps, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, by which a server processor of anonline server can provide customized experiences for client stations ina shared online environment. Certain details and features have been leftout of flowchart 400 that are apparent to a person of ordinary skill inthe art. For example, a step may comprise one or more substeps or mayinvolve specialized equipment or materials, as known in the art. Whilesteps 410 through 440 indicated in flowchart 400 are sufficient todescribe one embodiment of the present invention, other embodiments ofthe invention may utilize steps different from those shown in flowchart400.

Referring to step 410 of flowchart 400 in FIG. 4 and network environment100 of FIG. 1, step 410 of flowchart 400 comprises server processor 111of online server 110 retrieving client data 121 from accounts database120 relating to a client of client station 150 a, referred to as user Aor client A. Server processor 111 may be executing online serviceapplication 116, which in turn requests client data from accountsdatabase 120 concerning all client stations connected by a publiclyaccessible network 130, including client station 150 a to 150 c.Accounts database 120 may actually be hosted as part of online server110, or may be hosted elsewhere on a dedicated database server or adistributed cluster of database servers. Similarly, online server 110may actually comprise multiple servers for providing distributedcomputational resources for online service application 116. After onlineserver 110 retrieves client data 121, it may store data in server memory115 indicating, as previously discussed, that client A answered a petpreference questionnaire indicating a preference for cats.

Referring to step 420 of flowchart 400 in FIG. 4 and flowchart 200 ofFIG. 2, step 420 of flowchart 400 comprises a server processor of anonline server executing online service application 216 determiningclient A preferences 223 a based on the client data retrieved from step410. If client data 221 corresponds to client data 121 from FIG. 1, thenclient A data 222 a may indicate that client A answered a pet preferencequestionnaire indicating a preference for cats. Client A data 222 a mayalready be stored in a memory accessible to online service application216 as a result of step 410. Thus, client A preferences 223 a can bedetermined straightforwardly as the preferences of client A arespecified explicitly from the questionnaire. In less clear situations,as previously discussed, online service application 216 may have toprocess implicit data contained in client A data 222 a, includingbehavioral tracking and marketing information from affiliated partners,to determine a best guess as to what client A preferences 223 a shouldbe. If no implicit data is available, then a default preference or someother fallback mechanism may be substituted.

Referring to step 430 of flowchart 400 in FIG. 4 and network environment300 of FIG. 3, step 430 of flowchart 400 comprises a server processor ofonline server 310 executing online service application 316 creatingcustomized environment 357 a from shared environment 317 according tothe user preferences determined in step 420. Since step 420 indicatesthat client A prefers cats, customized environment 257 a is created suchthat whatever pet existing in shared environment 217 is customized infavor of cats. Since shared environment 217 already contains a cat bydefault, step 430 does not actually modify shared environment 217 inthis case, but if shared environment 217 contained no default pet or adifferent default pet, then the pet would be replaced with a cat toalign with the preferences determined from step 420.

Referring to step 440 of flowchart 400 in FIG. 4 and network environment100 of FIG. 1, step 440 of flowchart 400 comprises server processor 111of online server 110 sending customized environment 157 a to onlineclient application 156 a executing on client processor 151 a of clientstation 150 a. As shown in FIG. 1, step 440 has already beenaccomplished, as client station 150 a already has access to customizedenvironment 157 a. This can be accomplished by using the connectionbetween online service application 116 and online client application 156a via network 130 as a data pipe for transfer of customized environment157 a. Online client application 156 a can then interpret customizedenvironment 157 a to generate render 167 a, which is sent to display 160a, thereby providing a customized experience for client A. Steps 410 to440 could also be applicable for client 13 and client C, or clientstation 150 b and client station 150 c, respectively.

However, one problem after providing customized environments resultingfrom step 440 may involve gracefully interpreting client interactionswith different customized environments such that the perception of ashared online environment is nevertheless maintained. As previouslydiscussed, some techniques might include translating actions for eachclient station, making actions generically applicable to the sharedenvironment accessible to all client stations, or simply deleting orignoring actions that may suspend disbelief in a shared onlineenvironment. These techniques may be implemented as part of interactiondata filter 318 of FIG. 3, which is accessible from online service 316executing on a server processor of online server 310. If interactiondata filter 318 provides accurate and seamless filtering for onlineservice application 316, then clients can transparently enjoy thebenefits of personalized customization while addressing the human needfor communication and companionship via social networks provided by ashared online environment.

From the above description of the invention it is manifest that varioustechniques can be used for implementing the concepts of the presentinvention without departing from its scope. Moreover, while theinvention has been described with specific reference to certainembodiments, a person of ordinary skills in the art would recognize thatchanges can be made in form and detail without departing from the spiritand the scope of the invention. As such, the described embodiments areto be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. Itshould also be understood that the invention is not limited to theparticular embodiments described herein, but is capable of manyrearrangements, modifications, and substitutions without departing fromthe scope of the invention.

1-20. (canceled) 21: An online server for providing customizedexperiences to a plurality of client stations in a shared virtual space,the plurality of client stations including a first client station and asecond client station, the first client station having a first onlineclient application for execution by a first client processor forrendering the shared virtual space on a first client display for a firstclient, the second client station having a second online clientapplication for execution by a second client processor for rendering theshared virtual space on a second client display for a second client insocial interaction with the first client, the online server comprising:an accounts database having data relating to a plurality of clientsincluding the first client and the second client; and a server processorconfigured to: retrieve a first client data including a first client ageand a first gender of the first client from the accounts databaserelating to the first client; retrieve a second client data including asecond client age and a second gender of the second client from theaccounts database relating to the second client; create a firstcustomized virtual space from the shared virtual space according to atleast one of the first client age and the first client gender, and asecond customized virtual space from the shared virtual space accordingto at least one of the second client age and the second client gender;and send the first customized virtual space to the first online clientapplication being executed on the first client station of the firstclient for rendering on the first client display and the secondcustomized virtual space to the second online client application beingexecuted on the second client station of the second client for renderingon the second client display. 22: The online server of claim 21, whereinthe shared virtual space includes at least one shared virtual item, andwherein the at least one shared virtual item is different in each of thefirst customized virtual space and the second customized virtual space.23: The online server of claim 22, wherein the at least one sharedvirtual item includes a painting, wherein the painting is different ineach of the first customized virtual space and the second customizedvirtual space, and wherein the server processor configured to select thepainting in the first customized virtual space according to the at leastone of the first client age and the first client gender, and thepainting in the second customized virtual space according to the atleast one of the second client age and the second client gender. 24: Theonline server of claim 22, wherein the at least one shared virtual itemincludes a clock, wherein the clock is different in each of the firstcustomized virtual space and the second customized virtual space, andwherein the server processor configured to select the clock in the firstcustomized virtual space according to the at least one of the firstclient age and the first client gender, and the clock in the secondcustomized virtual space according to the at least one of the secondclient age and the second client gender. 25: The online server of claim22, wherein the at least one shared virtual item includes a dress,wherein the avatar is different in each of the first customized virtualspace and the second customized virtual space, and wherein the serverprocessor configured to select the dress in the first customized virtualspace according to the at least one of the first client age and thefirst client gender, and the dress in the second customized virtualspace according to the at least one of the second client age and thesecond client gender. 26: A method for use by an online server forproviding customized experiences to a plurality of client stations in ashared virtual space, the plurality of client stations including a firstclient station and a second client station, the first client stationhaving a first online client application for execution by a first clientprocessor for rendering the shared virtual space on a first clientdisplay for a first client, the second client station having a secondonline client application for execution by a second client processor forrendering the shared virtual space on a second client display for asecond client in social interaction with the first client, the methodcomprising: retrieving a first client data including a first client ageand a first gender of the first client from an accounts database;retrieving a second client data including a second client age and asecond gender of the second client from the accounts database; creatinga first customized virtual space from the shared virtual space accordingto at least one of the first client age and the first client gender, anda second customized virtual space from the shared virtual spaceaccording to at least one of the second client age and the second clientgender; and sending the first customized virtual space to the firstonline client application being executed on the first client station ofthe first client for rendering on the first client display and thesecond customized virtual space to the second online client applicationbeing executed on the second client station of the second client forrendering on the second client display. 27: The method of claim 26,wherein the shared virtual space includes at least one shared virtualitem, and wherein the at least one shared virtual item is different ineach of the first customized virtual space and the second customizedvirtual space. 28: The method of claim 26, wherein the at least oneshared virtual item includes a painting, wherein the painting isdifferent in each of the first customized virtual space and the secondcustomized virtual space, and wherein the method further comprises:selecting the painting in the first customized virtual space accordingto the at least one of the first client age and the first client gender;and selecting the painting in the second customized virtual spaceaccording to the at least one of the second client age and the secondclient gender. 29: The method of claim 26, wherein the at least oneshared virtual item includes a clock, wherein the clock is different ineach of the first customized virtual space and the second customizedvirtual space, and wherein the method further comprises: selecting theclock in the first customized virtual space according to the at leastone of the first client age and the first client gender; and selectingthe clock in the second customized virtual space according to the atleast one of the second client age and the second client gender. 30: Themethod of claim 26, wherein the at least one shared virtual itemincludes a dress, wherein the avatar is different in each of the firstcustomized virtual space and the second customized virtual space, andwherein the method further comprises: selecting the dress in the firstcustomized virtual space according to the at least one of the firstclient age and the first client gender; and selecting the dress in thesecond customized virtual space according to the at least one of thesecond client age and the second client gender.